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Get Featured: Daniel Gorman

Get Featured: Daniel Gorman Daniel has a rather different feature for us all today. Instead of his work, it is his grandfathers photography from the 1930’s, from all over Europe. A fascinating glimpse into the past. Check it out.

This project began on a late December afternoon in 2012 during a getaway at my grandparent’s cottage. Tucked away in a secluded and remote part of Lunenburg, Blue Rocks became an annual chateau for close friends to ring in the New Year. Situated on an oceanfront property, my grandparents built this dream home to entertain, escape and take in the absolute beauty of the South Shore. It also served as storage when they got older and downsized from their house to a condo.

This storage was mostly comprised of my Grandfather’s lifetime of saving- which was a goldmine for our mutual rooting habit. Tucked away in a bedroom closet, my brother and I stumbled upon an old cigar box filled with antique 35mm film canisters. Already heavily into photography as a full time hobby these alone were enough to give me a huge spike in serotonin. These canisters were labeled with long past films from Afga and Kodak. The cans were all stamped with the names of European countries and all etched with the year “1937”. Taking a random roll out and holding the black and white negatives under a lamp, we soon realized we stumbled upon a family heirloom and an amalgamation of several things I loved- photography, travel, history and anything from my Grandfather. The next two years would propel me into an investigation that I was happy to obsess over.

By the next year I was well on my way to having the whole collection digitally scanned. During another New Year’s getaway, I found a small black journal. This book was filled cover to cover with my Grandfather’s handwriting. The first entry was written on May 17, 1937 aboard the ocean liner MS Pilsudski leaving our hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia on its way to England. The journal would go on to cover his day to day events as he went through England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. His entries would also help me pinpoint 98% of every photograph he had taken, narrowing it down to the day. Here is a selection of some of my favorite shots in addition to his absolutely stunning Leica Standard.

those pics of Paris in 1937 are priceless! “Arts et Techniques dans la Vie moderne” (arts and technics of the modern life) was the universal exposition held in Paris that year. on the pic with the Eiffel tower you can see the square german nazi building (with the eagle on top) on the left facing the soviet pavillon on the right.

Those two photos are indeed from Italy, taken from the roof of the Duomo in Milan. I believe they’re both taken from the Southern side, first facing South, the second facing South-West down to the square in front of Palazzo Reale. I enjoyed seeing the scaffolding on the first photo (the Duomo has _always_ been under maintenance since construction started). Also the second photo shows a small carpark where one of the Arengario stood shortly after, the carpark being my choice between the two. I wish I could see more.

Thanks to all who commented! This posting has just a few of the several hundred photos in total I had digitalized. I’d love to combine the full set of photos with his penned journal pages as a photography book. Until then, keep an eye on my website where I intend to upload more from this story!